Working Weekends

 
 
 

Good afternoon,

Last week ended with a statement from the Prime Minister threatening to walk away from trade talks and embracing a No-Deal Brexit, or as he calls it an ‘Australia style deal’. However, in a familiar turn of the Brexit roller coaster, talks have now resumed at an intensified level. Meanwhile, the Chancellor has cancelled the Comprehensive Spending Review leading to further uncertainty to the future of replacement of EU funds with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Our podcast this week focuses on the Shared Prosperity Fund and experts explain why it is important, what is happening, and what you can do about it. We have highlighted events and as usual our recommended reading for you.

Enjoy,
Jacob

In Politics

Negotiations Are Back On

  • Last week the PM walked away from talks embracing a No Deal Brexit

  • This week talks have resumed and will be intense

  • Movement has happened on technical bits but key sticking points remain

This week the negotiations for a future relationship between the UK and the EU resumed and intensified after the Prime Minister threatened to walk away from talks at the end of last week. 

In a statement, the Prime Minister said he felt that the EU wasn’t compromising enough stating “they want the continued ability to control our legislative freedom”. He was unimpressed with the EU and accused them of wasting time “given that they have refused to negotiate seriously for much of the last few months”. Throughout his statement he referenced an “Australia” arrangement. To be clear, this is essentially a No-Deal Brexit. A proposition he moved the country towards “with high hearts and complete confidence we will prepare to embrace the alternative [to a trade deal]”.

But as ever with Brexit, things change and they change fast. This week, the UK government took a different approach, saying it is “ready to welcome the EU team to London to resume negotiations” after Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, had given a speech to the European Parliament. 

The speech from Barnier provided movement on a few issues of concern by the UK. This includes the reluctance of the EU to start work on legal texts in areas where there has already been agreement. The EU hasn’t wanted to agree anything until everything is agreed. In his speech, Barnier said “we are prepared to intensify discussion on all the issues and to do this on the basis of legal texts”, moving closer towards the UK’s position.

This change has meant the UK is willing to start up negotiations and this week Barnier has travelled to the UK for continued talks. These talks will take place daily and include weekends with the initial phase to last from the 22nd October to the 25th October. Remember if a deal is to be done it needs to be agreed by 31st October. The EU will need to ratify the deal, and depending on what is within, it could then need ratification by member states parliaments. The significant sticking points still remain so we wait to see if there will be movement from either side.

In Policy

This Is Important: The UK Shared Prosperity Fund

  • Comprehensive Spending Review has been cancelled, leading to uncertainty over when we will hear more detail about the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

  • This Is Important: The UK Shared Prosperity Fund explains what it is, where we are, and why it is important. Listen here

  • Labour Lords have tabled a package of amendments to the Internal Market Bill on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Episode three of our podcast series is out and focuses on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. 

When the UK was a member of the European Union it had access to EU funding schemes. These schemes often benefited many areas that faced disadvantages across the EU, including areas in the UK, such as: Wales, Sheffield, and Cornwall. As the UK has left the EU access to this funding stops. The UK Government has promised to replace this fund with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund

In this episode you will hear from Belinda Pratten (Equally Ours) and Janine Downing (WCVA), two experts on EU funding explaining how we have got here, what the Government is doing, and what needs to be in this new fund.

Importantly you will come to understand the impact the EU funding has had on people's lives providing training, employment and community. This is a good bit and has dogs in it, so don’t miss out Janine and Belinda outline what will happen to people if the funding is not replaced.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund not being set up in time to replace the EU funding is a real threat. As outlined in the episode there is a lack of detail about the fund but this was promised to be revealed in the Comprehensive Spending Review. This has been delayed to autumn but this week has been cancelled entirely. With this uncertainty, our guests also outline advice as to what you can do in the face of continued lack of details from the UK Government

This week, Labour Lords took this uncertainty into their own hands by tabling a package of amendments to the UK Internal Market. The government’s original proposal is to give themselves spending powers in the UK Internal Market Bill spending powers in areas of devolved policy competence to, inter alia, replace EU funding. Much of this funding has traditionally flowed through devolved authorities into the voluntary sector with equality and social cohesion mainstreamed in its delivery. The Government has made it clear these powers would be used to centralise the distribution of these funds, thereby putting at risk the invaluable local relationships and experience which inform the use of these funds. 

The package of amendments from Labour Lords would reverse this and instead set up a UK Shared Prosperity Commission, compromising members appointed by the UK and devolved governments. Following a public consultation, the funding would be allocated to local authorities, sectoral organisations, community groups and education institutions after an assessment of relative need across the four nations and regions of the UK. Relative need includes (but not limited to): the proportion of children living below the poverty line, low income, economic weakness, the age structure of the population, the impact of the pandemic and the impact of climate change. Our briefing to peers highlights why it is important that peers vote for these amendments.

LISTEN HERE

In Parliament

Watch Commons, Lords, and Committee sessions free on parliamentlive.tv

House of Commons

The House of Commons is in recess until Monday 2nd November

House of Lords

Monday 26th
Legislation United Kingdom Internal Market Bill - committee stage (day 1)

Wednesday 28th
Legislation United Kingdom Internal Market Bill - committee stage (day 2)

In Events

The EU Settlement Scheme across the UK: challenges ahead

As we approach the end of the transition period and thereafter the deadline to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme, the Brexit Civil Society Alliance are excited to bring you our next event looking at the functioning of the scheme and future EU migration across the devolved nations. To do so we are bringing together frontline, expert, and political representatives from Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. 
 
Our speakers will be:-
From Northern Ireland,  Úna Boyd, the Immigration Project Coordinator at the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ); and Claire Hanna MP for Belfast South.
 
From Scotland, Noelia Martinez, Project Coordinator, Citizens Rights Project Scotland; and Dr Sarah Kyambi, independent immigration expert who led the Migration Policy Scotland Project and is currently focussing is on the impact of Brexit on immigration.
 
From Wales,  Hayley Morgan, Service Coordinator, TGP Cymru; and Bethan Bateman, Head of Migration within the Welsh Government, EU Transition Team. 
 
In this exciting event our speakers will explore problems with the scheme, different experiences and issues across the four parts of the UK, and what challenges and opportunities lie ahead. After a panel discussion we will open the floor to questions from the audience.

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